


The End to Simplicity

by nohbodyknows



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Zombiestuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-31 09:29:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 9,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3972889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nohbodyknows/pseuds/nohbodyknows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Normality is a wonderful, yet unappreciated thing. We take what we have for granted and don't realize we love it until it's ripped away from us.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. John

    Your name is John Egbert. You’re sitting on the bus, surrounded by your best friends in the world. Dave is next to you and Rose and Jade share the seat in front of you. You guys are on the way home after a long, tiring day of school and petty drama. The girls turn around in their seats to talk to the two of you.

    “So, how do you think you did on the English test?” Jade asks. “I swear I failed that thing. I hate English.”

    “Yeah I don’t think I did too hot on that either. How ‘bout you Dave?” You say.

   “Pssh, I aced that thing. My language skills are epic to the max.”

   “I don’t believe that using phrases such as ‘epic to the max’ are not exactly proper English.” Rose says.

   “Yeah, well-” _SKREEEEEEEEEEEEE_

    His words are interrupted by the bus skidding to a halt. For the first time all year the bus is silent. All heads turn towards the front. Out the large front window you can see a guy, just wandering in the middle of the road. He looks...off. His shoulders are slumped over and his legs move with a jerky, inhuman motion.

    “What is he doing?” Jade asks.

    “I don’t know,” Dave shrugs. “He’s probably just some druggie.”

    The bus driver stands up to address the bus. “Now, I want you guys to stay here, I’m going to go out there to try and get him out of the road so we can get you guys home. No messing around while I’m gone.” He opens the door and leaves down the steps. The second he gets out everyone starts talking again. You stay looking out the window. You watch as the bus driver goes into the middle of the road, a few feet away from the man. He’s saying something to him. The man looks up at your bus driver and you can finally see his eyes, his horrid, almost dead-looking eyes.

    It happens so fast you almost think it was just your imagination. You really, really, wish it was just your imagination. The man (though you hardly want to call him a man anymore) leaps at your driver and pushes him down to the ground. From what you see the, the thing is eating your bus driver. Everyone screams, including you and Jade. Rose and Dave just stare at the scene in horror. People on the street are running away in fear. The thing finishes with your driver and gets up, his entire front covered in a drying crimson.

   Slowly, it turns its head towards the bus. You swear it’s staring right at you. It lets loose a gut-churning growl and charges itself at the window. The bus turns into a frenzy. Kids push open the emergency back door and spill out of it like a burst dam. At first you can’t move, you stay staring at the remains of your driver, and the monster clawing at the window.

    “John. John! Let’s go, come on!” Dave grabs your hand and pulls you out of the bus and through the back door with Jade and Rose following close behind. The four of you jump off the bus and join the growing crowd. People rush in every direction.

    “Where do we go now?” Rose yells over the noise.

    “Let’s go to my house, it’s closest.” You start to elbow your way through everyone, holding onto your friends like a line of Kindergarteners. As you walk you notice more of the dead looking things roaming the street and taking their pick of whoever they please. To avoid them you lead your friends into a side street off the main road. It will take longer to get home, but at least its safer. You just hope your dad is okay. What if something happened to him? What if he was outside and-

    “Hey Egderp, you okay?” Dave asks. He must’ve seen the worried look on your face.

    “Yeah I’m fine. Well, no I’m not fine, I guess. All of this happened so quickly I’m just now putting this all together.”

    “Yes, this did seem to come out of nowhere,” Rose says.

    “Actually, not nowhere,” Jade speaks up from behind.

    “What do you mean?” you turn to look at her. She’s wringing her hands nervously.

    “Well, my grandfather works at a lab just outside of town, and he didn’t tell me much, but I think he was working on something to help people with violent tendencies, like murderers and stuff, but he was talking about one of his subjects on the phone and from what I heard I think the subject went crazier than he was and went off the handle. Maybe his experiment had something to do with this.”

    “Woah, Jade. Your grandpa has officially caused the zombie apocalypse.” Dave says.

    “Dave!” you hit him in the shoulder. “Jade, I’m sure whatever this is, your grandpa didn’t cause it.”

    “Um, John? 4130 isn’t your address, is it?” Rose touches your hand.

    “Yeah, why?” She points at your house. The door is wide open, and blood stains the kitchen window.

    “Dad!”


	2. Dave

Your name is Dave Strider and you are freaking out. You just got to John's house house, only to find something else had gotten there. John tries to run inside but you hold him back.  
"Dave let go! What are you doing?" He struggles under your grip.  
"Whatever's in there might still be around. If we go barging in there through the front door we'll attract some very unwanted attention."  
"Then what do you suggest we do? My dad's in there. I have to make sure he's okay"  
You stare at him for a second. He's trying so hard not to cry right now. His bright blue eyes are brimming with tears. "Let's go in through the back door, real quiet."  
"Alright,"  
You let go of his hoodie and the four of you walk around to the back of the house. Through the glass door you can't see much, just a hallway. John opens the door and you walk in. The house is eerily silent your footsteps echo on the hardwood floor. You reach the kitchen, only to find it vacant. The scent of something burning captures your attention. Rose walks over to the oven and pulls out a slightly burnt cake.  
"If he's not here, then maybe he got away," Jade says trying to lighten the mood.  
"Yeah, maybe." You can tell john doesn't believe her. "Let's go up to my room. I want to grab a couple of things."  
The four of you walk upstairs. John's room is the last one on the right. It's covered in his nerdy movie posters. John heads for a chest near his bed and starts to dig through it. He pulls out a blue backpack and a hammer. He then goes over to his closet and starts shoving clothes into the bag.  
"Okay, I think that's it," he says. "But we should probably go get some food and stuff from the, from the kitchen"  
You can tell he doesn't want to step one foot in the place his dad may well have died. “Here, give me the bag. Rose and I will get the food, you and Jade can search around the house and see if there’s anything else we need.”  
“Yeah, there’s a first aid kit in the bathroom we can use. Come on, Jade.” They leave together and leave you and Rose alone in the room.  
“So,” she says, “After we finish in John’s house, where should we go next?”  
“I want to stop by my place next,” you say as you walk downstairs. “I’ve got a shit-load of weapons there, and my bro can probably hook us up with some sweet zombie-fighting gear.”  
You walk into the kitchen and search the cabinets for a bag or something to hold the food with. Rose is raiding the pantry, grabbing every non-perishable thing she can find. You find a reusable grocery bag under the sink and help Rose put everything she has in there.  
“Geez, does Egbert have anything in here that isn't cake mix?”  
“I found a box of Gushers,”  
“Gross, those things are nasty, I don’t know how they eat this stuff.”  
Your criticizing of the Egbert Family Pantry is interrupted when you hear a low growl emanating from the living room behind you. You and Rose slowly turn to look behind you. At first you see nothing, just an empty room. Then a figure makes it way from behind the couch. So that’s why you didn’t notice it when you came upstairs. The figure moves closer and gets more recognizable with each broken step. Underneath the layer of blood and gore you can see the torn remains of John’s dad.  
“What do we do?” Rose whispers to you, barely moving.  
“I don’t know.” You honestly had no idea. This was John’s dad. This was the man who let you play his son almost 24/7. He was as much a guardian to you as your bro is. But then again, if John were to come down and see him like this…  
“We should get him out of here,” you say.  
“We’ll lead him into the bathroom and put a chair against the door.”  
“Good idea.”  
You and Rose back away, not keeping an eye of his dad. He turns his wounded head towards you and starts to follow. You put a hand on the wall to guide you as you make your way down the hall. Rose opens the bathroom door and stops. He gets closer, and closer, and closer. You can smell his already rotting flesh; it makes you want to lose your lunch. He’s only about a foot away when you hear footsteps coming down the stairs.  
“Shit no, not now!” you curse. Dad turns around and comes face to face with his son. John stands, horrified. Jade tries to pull him away, but he won’t budge. Seeing now as the right time to get going, you push John’s dad into the bathroom and hold the door shut. He starts banging on the door, ridiculously hard for someone who’s pretty much a walking corpse.  
“Someone get me a chair!” you yell.  
Jade runs into the other room and comes back with a chair to prop up the door. You collapse to the ground, the adrenaline fading. John is still standing there, but doesn't look sad anymore. He looks… numb. You stand up and walk over to him.  
“Hey man, you alright?” What a stupid thing to ask. He just watched his dad be reduced to a monster and get locked in a bathroom.  
“Let’s go to your place next.” he avoids the question and pushes his way past you. After a moment of brief silence (minus Dad’s growling) you follow him out the door and leave.


	3. Roxy

Your name is Roxy Lalonde and you swear you’re sober. What you’re seeing on the T.V. says otherwise. Come on, zombies, really? You pester your friend Dirk just to make sure.

  \- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering timaeusTestified [TT] -

TG: heey dirky  
TG: dirk a dirk i git a question for ya  
TG: *got   
TG: are there realy zombies up in washington or am i imagining it  
TT: Zombies? Seriously Lalonde you need to know when to put down the booze.   
TT: Wait, Washington you said?  
TG: yup the tv people are freaking out about it  
TT: Okay, wow yu were actually telling the truth.   
TT: I'm going to get ahold of Jake.   
TT: I want you to tell Jane to meet us at my apartment.   
TT: I have a plan.   
TG: ooh can i get a little sneak peak to this plan? ;)   
TG: *peek   
TT: We're going to Washington.   
TG: maybe you need to lay off he booz   
TG: if the zombeezare in washington then maybe we shouldnt go there   
TT: Just trust me.  


 

\- timaeusTestified [TT] ceased pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG] -

“Curse you Dirk and your riddles!” you shout at the air then pester Janey, just like the shithead told you to.

  \- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG] -

TG: janey   
TG: i am here rekaying a message from captain strider himself  
GG: What is it?   
TG: he wants us to meet him at his place to go on a friendly life-changing journey that may or may not involve walking into a zombie infested area  
GG: ...   
GG: What?  
TG: does no one watch the news?   
TG: theres a bunch of shit going down and dirk wants to go there   
TG: so lets meet his ass down at his house and get our adventure on!   
GG: Alright.   
GG: But if you're trying to get back at me for April Fool's then you've got another thing coming missy.   
TG: no tricks i promise   
TG: c u soon janey!  


\- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] ceased pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG] -

Alright. You got Jane now you just have to leave. You should pack some stuff for the road. A couple outfits and a few dresses should do. Plus the bottle you have hidden under you mattress. Yup, all ready to go. You run downstairs and head out the door. His place is only a block or two away from yours, so you just decide to walk.

 

The streets are packed with cars and the sidewalk is packed with people. Living in L.A. you should be used to this, but it’s never this bad. Maybe everyone else heard the news and are trying to get away from it. See they’re smart. You have no idea why Dirk wants you to head _towards_  the things eating people. But whatever, he knows what he’s doing, at least you hope so.

 

Five minutes and a lot of shoving later you reach his apartment. You see Jake coming down the street and wave him over.

 

“Hi Roxy, do you happen to know what’s going on? Dirk wouldn't tell me a thing, besides that I should get here as soon as I could.”

 

“I think it’ll be better if he explained it.” you say.

 

The two of you walk into the lobby and see Dirk sitting on one of the couches with a grey hat on his head and his sword on his back. He looks up when you two come in and walks over.

 

“Where’s Jane?”

 

“She’s on her way.” you say. As if on queue Jane walks through the door, looking absolutely flustered.

 

“People are acting like _animals_  today!” she says as she joins your little group.

 

“Now that we’re all here,” Jake says, “ can you please explain what all the hullaballoo is about?”

 

“Washington is currently swimming in the undead and we need to go up there because of some very important reasons.” he says.

 

“And those reasons being?” you can tell Jane is currently getting fed up with his shit

and so are you.

 

“I’ll tell you on the way but we need to get there as fast as we can so let’s go.”

 

Jake sighs, “You are such a mystery, Dirk.”

  
“So I’ve been told.” He leaves and you follow, ready for a very “mysterious” adventure.


	4. Dirk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention, the beta kids are sixteen and the alpha kids are nineteen

Your name is Dirk Strider and your friends probably think you’ve gone batshit crazy. I mean who wouldn't? You’re bringing them into currently the most dangerous city in the country without offering any explanation. You’d like to tell them why, but they'd probably hate you if you told them the truth.

 

Right now your friends are following like a train of ducks through the city of Los Angeles. The plan is to find a car or something that someone left abandoned when the panic started and then book it from there. Everyone is either leaving or already gone, probably going to the east coast where things are a little calmer. Due to the lack of obnoxious civilians that usually crowd the streets it's not too hard finding a car that can fit all four of you. You open the door and hotwire the car.

 

“Dirk?” Jane asks. “May I ask how you know how to do this?”

 

“I got bored one day. Don’t worry I’ve never actually done it to steal a car. Well except now.” The car starts and you get in the driver’s seat. Your friends follow suit, Jane and Roxy taking the seats in the back and Jake taking the passenger seat. You try to ignore the little dance your heart does when he sits next to you. You press on the gas and start driving, silently thanking your friends for their blind faith in you.

  
  


About 20 minutes later you’re out of the city and the girls have fallen asleep, leaving you and Jake in an awkward silence. Should you say something? What would you talk about? Hey how about this apocalypse, crazy right? God, do other people have this much trouble talking to people?

 

“So Dirk,” Jake thankfully starts up the conversation for you.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Now that we’re on our way, would you mind telling me why we are going headfirst into a dangerous city? Not that I’m complaining or anything, just curious.”

 

To lie or not to lie… Oh what the hell. He’s gonna find out the truth eventually. “A few years ago, I live with my brothers up in Washington. My older brother was a total dick, but I think I'm the only one who saw it. My little bro, Dave, he seemed completely oblivious to all the shit we had to go through. I swear he idolized that douchebag. Bro was never around, he was always working odd jobs here and there to scrape up some measly amount of cash that never seemed to be enough. And when he was home he was violent perverted creep. His idea of “talking things out” was a sword-fight on the fucking roof. I’m all up for a strife and everything but when you have real shit to deal with that’s not gonna help. I'm not sure he even loved us. It's like raising us was just some fucking game to him. So when I was old enough, I wanted to leave. I even talked to Dave about it, about taking him and living on our own in a better place. He told me I was a traitor for abandoning them. I’ll never forget the look on his face when I left. I deserved it. I didn’t have the right to leave Dave alone. As much as he annoyed me, I want to see if he’s okay. I thought that, maybe if I go save his asses, he’ll forgive me.”

 

You don’t look at Jake. He probably thinks your the most selfish person on the fucking planet now. You wouldn't blame him if he told you to turn around right now, to forget endangering all your lives just to try and save an unsalvageable relationship. You flinch when he places a hand on your shoulder.

 

“I’m sure that he’ll forgive you, Dirk. Let’s go find your brother. We’re behind you all the way.” You almost cry at his touching words. But you don’t because that would be embarrassing.

“Thanks man.” You smile and continue driving, on your way to fix your broken mess of a family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry 'bout the short chapter, I had hella writer's block and wanted to get this part done so I can write the next chapter :33 I have big plans for the rest of this story


	5. Jade

“This is it, The Strider Mansion.” Dave says as he opens the door to his apartment. The entire place is a mess. Clothes and for some reason swords litter the floor. “Hey Bro you home?” he calls out. No one answers.

 

“Where is he? You don’t think he, uh, you know?” you ask, trying not to bring up what happened to John’s dad.

 

“Nah. He was probably at work. I’m sure he’s fine, he can handle himself.”

 

“So, we just grab what we need and go?” John asks. “Or do you want to wait for him?”

 

“Let’s just grab things and go as quickly as we can. Bro wouldn't want me to wait for him He’s probably off doing his own thing anyway.” David grabs a sword from the floor and heads into the kitchen. “Go ahead and take whatever you want. I don’t give a shit.”

 

John starts digging through some boxes in the corner of the living room and Rose goes into the bathroom. You head into what you assume is David’s room. It looks like a tornado hit it. The only thing that looks untouched by windy wrath is a small cage in the corner. In it sits a small orange bird. You wonder if the poor thing’s gonna get fed, what with the apocalypse and all.

 

“Hey Dave!” You shout. “What should we do with your bird?”

 

“Sprite? You can just set the guy free. He’ll be better off on his own anyway.”

 

You open the cage and smile as the bird flies around the room and lands on your shoulder. “Aaww. I’m gonna keep you.” You pet his tiny head and walk out of the room. The door across the hall is closed. You can only imagine the mess the lies behind this door. You’re surprised to find it almost spotless when you open it. Posters of horses cover the walls. A neat pile of plushies are gathered in the corner. The only mess is a couple of broken machines on a desk. There's no way this is his bro's room, at least not the one you know.

 

Dave walks in behind you. He looks off, but you can't tell for sure with his shades on. He takes a look around then laughs. "I wonder if he's going through the same shot as us right now."

 

"Who?"

 

"Nobody of importance. At least not anymore." He walks out, leaving you more confused than you were before. You haven't known Dave long, Rose has known him a lot longer. Maybe she knows what he's talking about.

 

Finding nothing of use you head back into the living room, the little bird following you. Dave has a sword in a sheath slung over his shoulder and a bag full of canned food; Rose is carrying what looks like more first aid stuff; and John, same as you, has found nothing.

 

“I think that’s it for this place,” Dave says. “Where to next?”

 

“We could go to Rose’s house. That’s just a few blocks away.” you suggest.

 

Rose sighs. “I have no interest in going there. The only thing we could get is alcohol and I would much rather spare myself from an encounter with my mother.”

 

“Oh. Okay then. To my house!” you smile. “It’s all the way at the edge of town. Can we make it?”

 

“We might need to get a car. I don’t want to run into any, whatever they are.” John says.

 

“They’re zombies, right.” Dave says. “I mean, they’re brain-dead, moaning, eating people, is that's not a zombie I don’t know what is.”

 

Rose rolls her eyes. “Oh please Dave don’t be so childish. They’re not zombies. They’re just people who are sick. They’re still alive, they’ve just lost all sense of control and became animalistic.”

 

“So what do we call them then?” you ask.

 

“Ill.” Rose answers.

 

“Do you think they can ever be healed?” John asks quietly. He must be thinking about his dad.

 

“Maybe,” you put an arm around his shoulder. “Until then we should just, stay safe.”

 

“Agreed.” Dave says. “Now let’s go before it gets too dark.”

  
The four of you (and Sprite) leave the apartment and start heading to your house. You hope that you can stay safe until the end of this, if the end ever comes.


	6. Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.

“It’s getting late.” you say as you exit Dave’s apartment. “It’s probably not a good idea to be walking around at night.”

 

“We can stay at my house.” Jade suggests. Dave's bird is sitting on her shoulder. “Ya know, when we get there.”

 

“It’s pretty far. Can we make it on foot?” John asks.

 

“On foot, no.” Dave points to something down the street. “But on that thing we’ll be there in ten minutes.”

 

You take a peek at what he’s pointing at and see a motorcycle with a sidecar attached to it. “Dave, you’re not serious.”

 

“I’m as serious as I am cool.” He sits on the bike and revs it up. “All aboard the Strider Express.”

 

“This is ridiculous.” you mutter as you sit in the sidecar. John hops in behind you and Jade takes a seat behind Dave.

 

“Loosen up Rose! It’s not illegal to have fun in the apocalypse.” John says.

 

You smile and roll your eyes. “Let’s get this bike going before our ‘fun’ attracts unwanted attention.”

 

“Show us the way Jade,” Dave says as the four of you drive off into the distance.

 

~

 

The sun is turning the sky a brilliant purple by the time you reach Jade’s. Her house is simple, but quaint, just as you would expect a house on the edge of town to be. Before the bike even stops Jade is leaping off and running towards her home. The rest of you follow short behind.

 

While the outside of Jade’s house was ordinary, the inside was anything but. Globes of all sizes are spread about the foyer. Jade’s stuffed dog Halley is standing in the corner. Pictures of blue ladies hang on the walls, along with the mounted heads of large game hunted by Jade’s grandpa.

 

“Grandpa! I’m home!” Jade calls out. “Grandpa!” She runs upstairs and John follows her. You and Dave stay downstairs to find anything useful.

 

“I don’t think he’s home,” you say. “If what Jade said earlier was true, about her grandpa working on those people, it’s more than likely he’s-”

 

“There’s no point in stating the obvious Rose.” he snaps. “Everyone’s gone and there’s nothing we can do about so why bother talking about it.”

 

“Who pissed in your apple juice?”

 

“No one. I’m fine.” he walks away from you into the kitchen, almost tripping over a globe on the floor.

 

“You do realize it’s pointless to lie to me, right?” You follow him. “Is this about your brother?”

 

“Bro is fine, he’s probably running around Maple Valley with his stupid puppet in tow decapitating shit.”

 

“You know that’s not who I was talking about.” You stare at him, but he’s too busy preoccupying himself with Jade’s pantry. “Dave, it’s not healthy to hide your feelings, I told you about this.”

 

Before he can answer John and Jade come running down the stairs holding guns. John hands pistols and to you and Dave and keeps one to himself. Jade is holding the largest rifle you’ve ever seen.

 

“It was my grandpa’s.” She says when she sees you staring.

 

Something growls near the patio door. You all look outside to see Jade's dog Bec. He looks, different. His normally fluffy white fur is now matted and almost black. His eyes look vicious. Jade, unfortunately, notices none of this.

 

“Bec!” she smiles and goes to open the door.

 

“Jade. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” John tries to stop her but she ignores him. She opens the patio door and walks outside. You, John, and Dave follow close behind, not wanting to get too close to “Bec”. Even Sprite decided to stay behind.

 

“Jade, that’s not Bec. Get away from it!” Dave calls out to her but she doesn’t listen. She kneels in front of it and holds out her hand. You run to her, to get her away from it, but you’re too late. You turn away and try to shut out Jade’s scream as her best friend betrays her. You have to physically push John and Dave inside, they’re frozen in shock. The only thing that snaps them back into reality is the sound of “Bec” clawing at the door. Jade is lying face-down on the grass in a pool of blood.

  
“Let’s get out of here.” you say. The boys slowly follow out of the house and back onto the motor bike outside. You drive away from Jade’s house in silence.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry.


	7. Jane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. HATE. WRITERS. BLOCK. UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH
> 
> I am so sorry that this chapter took so long to write. I have like 40 chapters for this story planned but DETAILS ARE HARD

You blink yourself out of your nap. Groggily you look around, seeing that you’re out of the city already. Roxy is awake and chatting with Jake about some nonsense you can’t understand. You look out the window, enjoying the view of mountains and pine trees outside the window. You never got out of the city much. When you lived with your dad he always kept you cooped up in the house. He did it because he wanted to keep you safe but it just got so aggravating at times! You wonder if he’s okay. Maybe when Strider is finished with his crazy adventuring then you can go find him.

 

“What do you think Janey?” Roxy asks you about something you must not have been paying attention to.

 

“About what?”

 

She rolls her eyes. “What’s better, cute fluffy kitties or gross and smelly dogs?”

 

“They’re not smelly if you wash them!” Jake glares at Roxy.

 

You laugh at such a petty thing to argue over. “Honestly I prefer neither. I like rabbits.”

 

They groan and start pestering Dirk to break the tie.

 

“You guys are crazy. Can’t you just accept the fact that you like different things and move on?

Seriously this is stupid.” he says. Before they can respond, the car starts slowing down before coming to a shaky start.

 

“Why are we stopping?” Roxy asks.

 

Dirk sighs. “We’re out of gas. This is great, just fucking perfect!”

 

“Hey,” Jake touches Dirk’s shoulder, “it’s alright. We’ll just walk the rest of the way.”

 

"How far is it to Washington?" You ask.

 

"Not far." Dirk answers. "A day or two by foot. Longer if we run into any of those monsters."

 

“It’s getting pretty dark out.” Roxy says. “Maybe we should just stay in the car for tonight?”

 

“But we’re out in the open,” you say. “If anyone, or any _thing_  comes by they’ll find us.”

 

“She’s right.” Dirk opens the car door. “That’s why we have to keep going. This road curves around the trees, it’ll be faster if we just cut through the forest. Safer too.”

 

You get out of the car as you friends do the same. The pine trees stand tall above you, beautiful and menacing at the same time. Dirk leads the way through the forest, taking you through the quietest path as to not attract too much attention. You guess it would be easier to walk in silence if you didn't have Jake making unnecessary comments the whole time.

 

“I know it’s dark out here, but hey, at least it’s not raining.”

 

“Oh my God, Jake are you stupid?” Roxy practically yells at him. “Now it’s gonna rain because you had to go and say the _cheesiest_  thing to say in these kinds of situations.”

 

Jake pouts and mutters an apology. You laugh and walk up next to him. “It’s alright Jake. I don’t think any of that ‘jinxing’ stuff is true anyway.”

 

~

 

Twenty minutes later you’re mentally kicking yourself. A constant steady drizzle pours on you and your friends. Jake is trying his best to ignore the dirty looks Roxy is giving him. Soon thunder accompanies the rain and every once in a while a flash of lightning illuminates your faces. You shiver, realizing a skirt probably wasn’t the best to wear when you're traveling outside.

 

“You alright, Janey?” Roxy asks. She at least had the common sense to wear tights under her skirt.

 

“Yeah, just a bit chilly is all.”

 

_CRACK_

 

You look up to where the noise came from and see a bright light and a burst of flames. The top of the tree starts to fall down on the four of you. Roxy grabs your hand and you flee in a random direction. The tree falls behind you in a burst of splinters and sparks. The fire is already starting to spread. Once you’re as safe enough distance away you turn back and stare. Some unlucky creatures attracted by the sound have gotten themselves trapped in the blaze.

 

“Thanks Roxy,” you pant. You look up at her. She’s looking all around the place. “What’s wrong?”

  
“We lost them. We lost Dirk and Jake.” 


	8. Jake

_CRACK_

 

You look above you to see the top of a tree falling. You stare at it, unable to move. You should be panicking, running away, /something/. But you just stand there.

 

“Jake! Move!” Dirk is running towards you. He pushes you out of the way just before the tree crashes to the ground. Once the burning embers and tigs have settled you look up. Dirk is crawling out from under a branch. His pant leg is smoking but other than that he is fine.

 

“Thank you. I don’t know what came over me.” You apologize.

 

“It’s fine. Where are the girls?”

 

You look around seeing not the girls, but creatures coming towards. “Let’s go find them. It’s not safe here.”

 

“No kidding.” He takes your hand and walks with you away from the blaze. “Roxy!”

 

“Jane!” you call out. “They can’t have gone far.”

 

“Yeah. Let’s just keep going. We’ll be going the same way, we have to run into them eventually. Besides us yelling is basically becoming a dinner bell for cannibals.”

 

“You’re right. How much further till we’re out of the forest?”

 

“Honestly I have no idea. I just thought that if we kept heading north we’d get there one way or another. I can’t believe I dragged you guys out here. I don’t know what I thinking. We almost died, Jane and Roxy are probably lost or hurt, and I- I-” he takes a shuddering breath. “I failed.”

 

“Don’t say that.” You grab his hand. “If it makes any difference, I think you’re handling this quite well. You’re taking action and doing whatever it takes to go save your family. If it wasn’t for you we’d probably all still be in LA just waiting for something to happen. I’m glad I’m here with you.”

 

His shades had slipped partly off his face and you can see his golden eyes. You never really noticed how bright they were, what them being hidden all the time. He stares at you for a moment as if processing what you just said. Then he hugs you. An actual hug. You enjoy the moment, knowing how rare Strider affection is.

 

He lets go and grabs your hand. “Let’s go.”

  
You walk with him, a newfound bounce in your step. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really am sorry about these short chapters. I promise they'll get longer, I just had to get exposition and stuff out of the way before the real trouble for these kids start ;)


	9. John

Sprite sits on your shoulder as the motorbike slows in front of a large brick building. Looking closer you see that it’s a library. No wonder Rose wanted to stay here. You hop off the bike and walk up to the building.

 

“Don’t we have to, like, worry about sick people being in there?” Dave asks.

 

Rose slides off the bike. “No. It’s closed on Wednesdays.” She opens the door and beckons you and Dave inside. You’ve never really been to a library before (you preferred movies to books) and you're shocked at just how big it is. Rows and rows of books piled on shelves almost as tall as the ceiling. You see a light in Rose’s eye as she disappears into the shelves. Sprite flies off your shoulder and makes his home in top of the YA fiction section.

 

“Guess that leaves us to fortify this place.” Dave says.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“We gotta build this shit up like a fortress. I don’t want any unwanted guests if you know what I mean.”

 

“Oh, yeah.” your voice comes out a little weaker than you want it to.

 

“Hey man, you okay.”

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just…”

 

Dave looks around him then grabs your hand. “Come with me.” He drags you to the back of the library, behind the biographies about obscure historical figures.

 

“What are we doing back here?” you ask.

 

“Obviously you need to let out some feelings. Your dad _and_  your cousin just died. Most people would be bawling their eyes out right now but for some reason you’re not. I brought you back here so you can cry like a man in privacy.”  
  


“This is coming from a kid who’s never shed a single tear in their life.” you say, putting the focus on him.

 

He sighs and pulls off his shades. His eyes are red, well, redder than they usually are. “I’m a fucking crybaby. Why do think I wear these stupid shades? Irony? I was a mess on the way here.”

 

You smile, then laugh, then cry. You can feel Dave awkwardly put his arms around you. You return the hug, sobbing into his shoulder. You’re a mess, you're surprised Dave isn’t grossed out by you getting bogeys on his shirt. You back away from him and wipe your nose on your sleeve. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t be.” you look up at him to see tears rolling down his face too.

 

“I really needed that. Thank you.”

 

“No problem.” He looks down at the shades in his hands. “Guess I don’t need these anymore.” He throws them a few feet away from you.

 

“Hey, I got you those.” you laugh.

 

He just shrugs it off.

 

“If I’m not interrupting anything,” Rose appears around the corner and scares the hell out of you and Dave, “then I think it would be a good idea to go check out those restaurants a few blocks down. You know, before everyone else gets there first.”

 

“Sounds great.” Dave says. “Come on Egbert let’s go.”

 

You start to follow Dave before Rose stops you.

 

“Here.” She holds out a gun to you. “It was Jade’s. I thought you might want to use this instead of your little hammer.”

 

“There’s nothing wrong with my hammer.” you say, but grab the gun anyway. “Thank you.”

 

“John let’s go!” Dave yells from across the library.

 

“You’re boyfriend’s ready to go.”

 

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

 

Rose just laughs and pushes you along. “Say that to me in a few weeks. Go on.”

 

You glare at her then run over to the impatient Dave. Pssh. Boyfriend. Well… It’s not like the thought hasn't crossed your mind before. You tend to not think about stuff like that. It’s not good to get your hopes up. You follow Dave out the door and head off down the block.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STAY TUNED FOR MORE AWKWARD GAYS
> 
> But seriously thanks so much for reading this I really appreciate it :3


	10. Dave

It's eerily silent as you and John walk down the street. You hold your sword in your hand and John holds a gun in his. You almost laugh. He looks like the last person you’d expect to know how to shoot a gun. Jade said he tried to teach him and almost died in the process. Jade. You wish you could’ve done more. But then again you’re not a hero. And even if you were there’s no way you could’ve gotten to her in time. You know you should stop beating yourself up over it, but survivor’s guilt is a heavy burden.

 

“Alright, I think this is it.” John’s voice shakes you out of your thoughts. You’re standing in front of a really sketchy looking McDonald’s. Windows are broken, graffiti covers the walls; you wonder if it always looked like this or if it’s just a side-effect of the apocalypse.

 

John tries opening the the door. It’s locked. You can tell the first time he tries pulling on the door. The next seconds of John shaking the door do nothing but make a lot of noise.

 

“Hey, how about instead of ringing the dinner bell, we climb through one of these convenient window holes someone made for us.”

 

“Oh, yeah. Good idea.”

 

You take off your hoodie and lay it on the sill so you don't cut yourself on the glass and climb inside. John follows close behind. Inside isn’t much of an improvement from the outside. There’s shattered glass on the floor (no surprise there) and spatters of blood (slightly more upsetting).

 

“It looks like we’re not the first ones here.” John states the obvious.

 

“Yeah. Let’s see if there’s anything they left behind.” You hop over the counter with grace. You laugh as John falls flat on his face trying to copy you.

 

“You didn’t see that.” He picks himself up off the ground.

 

“Sure I didn’t. Come here I think there’s stuff in this box on top of the shelf.” You turn to look at him. Your eyes widen when you see a zombie behind him. You push him out of the way and try to get a good whack at it with your sword. But it’s too close. You can’t get in a good enough swing. It falls on top of you, pinning you to the ground. God, this thing is heavy. It probably weighs more than you and John combined. John rushes over, trying to push it off you.

 

“John,” you wheeze. “Just shoot it dammit!”

 

He holds the gun up to it’s head. He turns away and shoots. You both work to get yourself free from the bloody corpse.

 

“Are you okay?” he asks.

 

“Yeah, I think so.” you look up at John. He’s staring at something on your side. “What?”

 

The side of your shirt is covered in blood. You lift it up to find a mangled bite in your waist. You can’t believe it. It’s staring you right in the face, but it seems so unreal. I guess you just never thought it would happen to you. You look up at John. His face is pale. You think you see tears behind his blood-spattered glasses. You can’t do this to him. You can’t become another mindless, shambling corpse. You take a deep breath and look into John’s eyes.

 

“You can’t let me turn. I don’t want to become one of those things and hurt you.” You bring his gun up to your head. Your hands are shaking. So are his. “Please.”

 

“No, I-I can’t do that. I can’t /kill/ you.” His voice is cracking. You start to tear up. This is so unfair. You’re just kids! How the fuck are you supposed to deal with this?

 

“John, if you don’t do this then I’ll just become one of them!” you point to the corpse on the floor. “If you won’t do it, then I will. Give me the gun.”

 

He holds it away from you. “No. I won’t let you kill yourself.”

 

“Just- aaaagggghhh!” The adrenaline from the fight wears off and the pain sets in. You try to reach for the gun but he holds it high above his head.

 

“I’m taking you back to the library.” he says.

 

“No! You can’t. I can’t put Rose in danger too. Just leave me here. Please.”

 

“You’re coming whether you like it or not.” He starts to come even closer to you.

 

“What are you doing? John, get away from me!” he picks you up and swings you over his shoulder. “Let me go! How the hell are you doing this?”

 

“You weigh like 90 pounds. I’m taking you back and we’ll tell Rose what happened.”

  
You pound on his back and squirm in his grasp, but John is a lot stronger than he looks. He grabs your sweater and walks out the front door. Eventually you give up and slump on his back, tired and in pain. You close your eyes and wait to see Jade again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we see shit officially going down. Yeah, everything basically goes downhill for these kids from here.  
> Also just wanted to let you guys know that school will be starting up again soon so I might not be able to update as often as I'd like.


	11. Roxy

You swear you've been stuck in these woods for hours. On a normal day you wouldn't mind this. The early morning sunlight streams through the trees like in those fantasy stories, illuminating you and Jane. The only thing ruining this beautiful moment is the moaning of the undead and the constant worry that Dirk and Jake might be dead, or worse.

 

You’re just about ready to give up when Jane taps you on the shoulder. You look up and see a building through the trees. You smile and run out of the woods. The building you saw was a large apartment. You look over at Jane. She looks exhausted. Her clothes are dirty and slightly torn. Her hair has leaves in it and is plastered to her face with sweat. You probably look the same, if not worse. You both silently decide to stay awhile in the apartments.

 

The front door has already been busted open. You carefully step over the debris and look around the lobby. Nothing. Jane picks up a piece of wood off the floor and wields it like a bat. She’s got the right idea. But wood won’t do much damage to someone who /really/ wants to hurt you. Luckily, you have just the thing in your backpack. You swing it off your shoulders and set it on the ground.

 

“What are you grabbing?”

 

You pull out the bottle of liquor you took from your stash before all this started.

 

“I don’t think now is a good time for a drink, Roxy.”

 

“It’s not for drinking, silly.” You pour out the bottle on the floor and smash it against the wall like they do in movies. “Now this is a weapon.”

 

Jane laughs. “Very nice. Let’s go.” Jane leads the way upstairs. You’ll be safest on the top floor, less of a chance of an Undead stumbling into your room. For the most part the stairs are empty, nothing but the occasional piece of trash. Until you reach the third floor. You barely turn the corner when you see a gun pointed at your face. Jane yelps and stumbles. You catch her before she falls down the stairs. Behind the gun is a boy about your age with a shaved head and a sickly grin. When he talks it makes your skin crawl.

 

“Who do we have here? A couple of bitches all alone with no one here to save them.”

 

“We don’t need anyone to save us.” You hold your bottle out at him, which looks like a plastic toy compared to his rifle.

 

“Tell me, just what the hell are you doing in _my_  building.”

 

“We were just looking for a place to rest.” Jane says. “We can leave now, no trouble.”

 

“Great idea,” you grab Jane’s hand and start going back downstairs.

 

He cackles behind you. “Good luck finding your friends! Not that you're ever going to. Ha!”

 

You can’t get down those stairs fast enough. Once you're out the door you and Jane are out of breath.

 

“How did he know we were looking for our friends?” you ask. “We didn’t say anything did we?”

 

“I don’t think so. Maybe it was just an assumption. A lot of people are looking for friends out there.”

 

You want to believe her, but you can't shake the chills that stay with you as you leave the area.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ARGH curse these short chapters! I had to change the way i wanted this chapter to go in the middle of writing it because of a plot hole. I intended it to be longer :/


	12. Dirk

You’ve been out of the forest for awhile now and have reached the town on the other side. You and Jake walk in the middle of the road, keeping an eye out for undead and anything else that could be lurking in the shadows. The storm is long gone and left the air holding a damp mist. The sunlight is peeking from behind the clouds, illuminating the two of you. Jake’s eyes are a brilliant emerald in the light. Wait shit he saw you staring look away look away.

 

“So, Dirk. Any idea where we are?”

 

“Sort of. I mean, I don’t know exactly where we are but we’ll get there eventually if we keep going north.”

 

“Maybe one of these shops have a map inside. They could also have food, I’m feeling rather famished after last night.”

 

“Yeah, same. I lost my bag in the panic. I had some snacks in there. Water too.”

 

“You still have your sword though.”

 

“Of course I have the sword. This sword is sacred. It was forged by an ancient Otaku Master over the heat of a roaring manga fire, and cooled in an enchanted spring where virgin horses nicker and bathe, and can be used only by one whose pointy anime shades are deemed sweet enough, and whose hair exists in a perpetually sculpted state of looking completely fucking awesome.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Nah, it’s just something I stole from my brother. It’s probably fake Japanese or something.”

 

“Oh.”

 

You can’t believe you actually just said all that. God you’re stupid when you’re nervous. Why did it have to be just you and him? You mean, it’s not that you’re not grateful, you just wish you weren't so fucking terrible at social interaction.

 

“Hey Dirk, there’s a gas station over there, wanna check it out?”

 

“Yeah, let’s go.”

 

You push the door open and scope out the store. There’s a couple undead stumbling around, but you take care of them with ease. At the front of the store is just what you need, an atlas. You pick it up and flip through it until you find the page you need. From what you can tell you’re a few miles away from the end of the state. If you can find another car maybe you can get there in a day or two. That is, trusting the fact that your brother has stayed in Maple Valley this whole time. What are you gonna do if he left since this all started? This whole journey would be for nothing and Roxy and Jane would have died for nothing.

 

Woah, way to be fatalistic. There’s a chance they’re still out there. Maybe you’ll meet up in Washington. Yeah, when you get there you’ll all meet up and be together again.

 

You hear a loud crash from the other side of the store. “Jake!” You run to the other side of the store, Jake’s nowhere to be found. Shit where do he go?

 

“Strider? A little help over here?” you look over to where you heard him and see an overturned shelf lying on top of Jake.

 

“Way to go, dude.” You lift the shelf off of Jake and help him up. “You alright?”

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just… clumsy.”

 

“You can say that again.” You pull out the map and show it to him, pointing out your route. “We should get there in a few days.

 

“Sounds good to me. Do you think we can find a car to make the trip shorter? Maybe you can use your special skills to start one up for us.

 

“Yeah, maybe.”

 

You grab a few snacks from the overturned shelf and head off. You don’t find a car right away, all of them are broken beyond use or just won’t start. As you head north, Jake starts to fall a little behind.

 

“Hey man, you okay?” you ask.

 

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m fine.” He avoids looking at you.

 

“Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that you’re lying to me.”

 

He shrugs.

 

You stop walking and stand in front of him. “You know you can tell me what’s bothering you right? I’ve told you everything.”

 

He finally looks up at you. “It’s just, I feel sort of like a liability. I froze when the tree was falling and you had to save me and you almost died and just now back at the shop I was taken down by a shelf. A bloody shelf! And you had to help me out of it and I just feel like, I’m more of a disadvantage to you than anything else. I’m no adventurer, who am I kidding. I should've just stayed home.”

 

Oh man is crying? Shit, how do you comfort him? How do you make someone feel not sad? You’ve never done this before dammit! “Hey, Jake.” You wipe away the tear that fell. “You’re not a liability. And just because you get caught in a couple sticky situations doesn’t mean you’re a disadvantage to me. If you were such a burden I wouldn’t go through the trouble to save you, right?”

 

“I guess.” He sniffles and grabs your hand. A part of your mind starts to freak out, because _Jake English is actually holding your hand omg!_ But you tell yourself to stay calm. The poor boy’s still freaking out. He looks up at you with his big green eyes. He looks like a sad, little puppy. Wait, do sad little puppies make looks like that? Oh shit he’s leaning in what is he doing? His lips touch yours before you have a chance to process exactly what’s going on, and they leave far too soon for your liking.

 

You think you short-circuit for a minute and just stare awkwardly at his face. He’s rubbing his elbow and muttering an apology.

 

“No, no. Don’t say sorry. I just- was not expecting that.” You grab his hand to bring him closer, to let him know that you did enjoy that.

 

He smiles at you and grips your hand tighter. “You wanna head off now?”

 

“Yeah, let’s go.”

  
And for the next hour or so you walk next to Jake, a stupid grin on your face and a fluttery heart to match. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like writing Dirk's POV...
> 
> Also school starts tomorrow ugh. Wish me good luck!


	13. Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: graphic description of wounds

You sit on the floor of the library, lost in the stacks. You grabbed an interesting looking book of the shelf, _Grimoire for Summoning the Zoologically Dubious_. Sprite has decided to rest himself on the top of the book while you read. You don't mind. It reminds you of how your cat used to curl up with you when you read in your room.  You hope he’s okay. Jaspers was one of our best friends. You told that cat everything, even if he could only respond with “meow”.

 

You’re kind of upset when Sprite flies away. You’re even more upset when he starts cawing non-stop. And you’re upset-ness levels reach new heights when John runs in the door, carrying a bleeding Dave. You throw your book to the side and rush over to them.

 

“What happened?” John sets Dave down on one of the tables.

 

“He got bit. There was a- a thing, and it fell on him, and it bit him.” John explains.

 

“Alright, calm down. It’s okay.”

 

“No it’s not! Dave’s gonna die!”

 

“John.” You grab his arm and look into his eyes. “Calm. Down. You freaking out isn’t going to help anyone.” You say that as if you’re not having an all out panic attack right now. You look over at Dave. Sprite is sitting on his forehead. You shoo him away to get a better look. He’s still breathing. He must have just passed out. At least, you hope he his. You don’t know anything about the process of how people change. John is still hyperventilating, but at least he’s not yelling.

 

“Dave? Can you hear me?” You slap at his face, trying to wake him up. He doesn’t stir.

 

“We should probably clean out his bite. You know, so it doesn't get infected. I’ll have my first aid kit.” John takes off his backpack and pulls out a white box. You take it from him and open it up. Inside are a roll of bandages, disinfecting wipes, a package of anti-bacteria cream, and a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

 

“I, uh, i'm going to go sit over there for a minute.” John goes to sit behind one of the stacks. You watch Sprite follow him. At least he can keep John company for awhile. You lift up Dave’s shirt and almost gag. The bite looks worse than you thought. When you wipe away the blood you can see just how badly he got hurt. In some places chunks of skin were missing. You have no idea how to help him. You pour a bit of the peroxide in the wound and wrap his waist in bandages.

 

“Ow.”

 

You jump, not expecting Dave to talk. He opens his eyes and looks at you. His eyes are red. Well, redder than they normally are.

 

“Did you have to make the bandage so tight?” He tries to sit up, but winces and lays back down.

 

“Dave?” John comes back from behind the shelf. “You’re alive?” He runs over and wraps him in a hug.

 

“We don’t know that for sure, John.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“We don’t know how this whole thing works. He could still turn. I think we should watch him for awhile, just to make sure.”

 

Dave pushes John off of him and sits up, slower this time. “Rose is right. Put me somewhere I can’t hurt you guys if I do turn. Chain me up outside or something.”

 

“Actually I was thinking about putting you in the closet.”

 

“Already there Sweetheart."

 

"What was that?" You smirk. You already know, you were the first he talked to about it. 

 

“Nothing, just put me in the closet.”

 

You and John help Dave off the table and towards the closet at the other side of the library. Dave sits down on the floor. You wave a little goodbye and shut the door, praying that’s not the last time you’ll see the real Dave.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my poor baby dave :(


	14. Author's Note

I'm sorry to say that I won't be updating this story anymore. I've fallen out of love with it and every time I look at previous chapters I cringe at the poor writing. I plan on writing another "zombiestuck" story in the (hopefully) near future with different characters, relationships, but still stick to somewhat of the same plot line. What I want to know is would you want me to keep this on the site unfinished or just delete it?


End file.
